Yan can cook: Celebrity Martin Yan wows the crowd at a noodle cooking demo at the 8th Asian Heritage Street Celebration in California in 2012. — Photo asianfairsf.com

HCM CITY (VNS) — The Windsor Property Management Group Corporation, which runs the Windsor Plaza Hotel and several restaurants in HCM City, has achieved a coup by getting star Chinese-American chef and food writer Martin Yan to create the menu at its Kissho Restaurant.

"In my new ‘all you can eat BBQ', I bring a lot of fresh and best quality materials such as beef, vegetables, and traditional ingredients," Yan explained.

He loves Vietnamese nuoc mam (fish sauce) and Japanese teriyaki sauce and said: "In any cuisine, you must start with best ingredients. And these sauces are very tasty.

"I love Vietnamese food because it is fresh and healthy. Your cuisine is very unique with traditional ingredients like lemongrass."

He loves all kinds of Vietnamese food, with his favourite being pho (Vietnamese noodles) with beef or chicken, and banh mi kep thit (sandwich with meat, butter, pate, and pickled vegetables).

"I enjoy making my own banh mi kep thit [with] a lot of fillings inside."

Yan has been promoting Vietnamese food to the world since 2003 when he was named the country's Culinary Ambassador by Saigontourist, the country's leading tourism agency.

For the last couple of years he has been introducing Viet Nam and its tourist attractions through a television cooking series.

The 30-part series, Cooking Everyday with Chef Yan, was filmed in many of HCM City's markets, supermarkets, and restaurants. In the show, the master chef makes a range of Vietnamese dishes while also providing his trademark, often humorous, running commentary to teach viewers how to make the dishes.

The show has been broadcast in many Asian markets, including China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Hong Kong, and Thailand.

Born in Guangzhou in China, Yan fell in love with cooking when just 13. He graduated from the Overseas Institute of Cookery in Hong Kong and worked in Canada for many years before moving to the US.

He has entertained billions around the world with his Yan Can Cook TV programme which has been shown on 240 stations in more than 70 countries.

He also runs his own cookery school in San Francisco, the US. His 25 cookbooks have been translated into many languages and published in many countries.

Yan arrived in HCM City last week and has been working with skilled local chefs to cook up some distinctively Vietnamese dishes.

"I love Viet Nam because the country is so beautiful and has a rich and diverse culture," the 62-year-old said. — VNS